In situ single cell imaging

Abstract Cancer immunotherapy is revolutionizing the landscape of cancer treatmentwith checkpoint inhibitorsactivated T cell therapiesand a range of other combinatorial approaches providing lasting benefits for patientsHoweverthe response rate to these advanced therapeutic approaches is onlydemonstrating the urgent need of better understanding of and eventually addressing the low response problemas well as the need of technologies for patient stratificationwhich often involves the use of biomarkers to fingerprint individualstumorsHerewe propose to develop a versatile quantum dotQdotbased single cell molecular profiling technology for in situ multiplexed quantitative molecular characterization of biological specimens with optical imaging resolutionDespite the availability of Qdots commercially since earlysthey have not received broad adoptions and enabled biological discoveriesalthough they offer much better optical properties than organic fluorophoresKey problems include the modest improvement in multiplexingand the sophisticatedlengthycost prohibitiveand low reproducibility probe preparation approaches developed to dateBased on a breakthrough made by ProfGao s labNatCommunthe technology proposed here is capable of solving both problemspatent recently awardedready for commercializationIt simultaneously achieves the multiplexing capability of mass spectrometryssand the sensitivityresolutionin situ imaginglow costgreat accessibilitymicroscopes are standard compared to mass spectrometersof immunofluorescence Narrative This project is aimed to develop and commercialize an innovative versatile quantum dot based imaging technology for highly multiplexedhigh resolutionin situ analysis of single cellsSuccess in producing such a powerful imaging tool will allow future collaborations and services for pharmaceutic companies to develop advanced immunotherapies and companion diagnostic kits